Admittedly, I have a bit of a soft spot for American bands that do typically European genres well, and Philadelphia’s I Am The Trireme (IATT for short) are no exception. Combining symphonic black metal with a sometimes barely discernible hint of death, IATT were definitely the highlight of Open Denile‘s release party show last month. Despite their relative newness to the scene (they were only founded in 2008), they’ve played with extreme metal legends like Rotting Christ, Exhumed, Goatwhore, and Suffocation, and I’m sure they’ll go on to perform with several others because they’re just that great. Plus, you can hardly read their logo — how much more brutal does it get?

IATT’s debut EP Pray For Damnation was released in March, and below is “Repulsed By The Sun,” one of its singles. For some reason it reminds me of the graveyard stage in Gauntlet: Legends for Playstation…maybe I’m just weird. I really like it though, and the “crushing wall of blackened brutality and haunting melodies” that IATT describe on their Facebook page really come through here. Listen and enjoy.